Rotary engine



H. E. SMITH.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1918.

Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

UNITED srres PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY E. SMITH, OF NEWPORT, ARKANSAS.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Application filed November 5, 1918. Serial No. 261,180.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARVEY E. SMITH, of Newport, county of Jackson, State of Arkansas, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rotary Engines, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to rotary engines, and my object generally stated, is to provide an engine that will make the greatest possible use of the energy employed in operating it, and be economical of manufacture, and compact, and to this end, my invention consists in the engine having the construction substantially as hereinafter specified and claimed.

In the annexed drawings, I illustrate my invention as embodied in a gas engine, and in such drawings,

Figure 1 isa view in side elevation, with the near side frame plate removed;

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Figure 1;

I illustrate my invention as embodied in a gas engine, because I have had more particularly in view the roduction of such an engine, but I do not limit myself to gas en'- gines, as it may be embodied in engines using other forms of energy, steam for example.

Describin in detail, the gas engine shown in the drawlngs, 10 is the frame or casing, with a cylindrical interior within which is a disk-form rotor 11, between the periphery of which and said interior, is an annular chamber or piston cylinder 12, said rotor, at intervals equally spaced apart,'having four pistons 13 thatfill the annular space radially, and have a length in axial direction that reaches from side to side of the annular chamber, suitable packing, of course,

being employed at the proper places to assure a gas-tight condition. Adjacent the rotor 11, are two other similar disk-form rotors 14 and 15, having respectively, similar pistons 16 and 17 in the annular chamber but each of said other rotors has but'two pistons. The rotor 11 is fixed to a shaft 18 and is the one'through which the power developed is transmitted, as by means of a gear wheel 19 secured to 1t outside the frame or casing 10, and the pistons of the other two are abutments against which the explosive charge reacts, and one of said other two rotors is journalled to turn freely to a limited extent on said shaft 18, as by means of a sleeve 20, while the rotor '15 is journaled to turn freely to a limited extent on said sleeve 20, as by means of a similar sleeve 21.

J ournaled in the disk of rotor 11, at equal distances apart, are four short shafts 22, and upon the end of each, on the outside of the rotor 11, is a gear wheel 23which meshes with a gear 24 on a central shaft 25, that passes axially through the rotor shaft 18, and which shaft 25 and its gear 24 are held from turning in any suitable way, so that the gears 23 and the gear 24 have sun-andplanet relation. On each of two of the shafts 22 (which are diametrically opposite) 1s a crank arm 26 which is connected by a link 27 with a pivot pin or stud 28 fixed to the middle rotor disk 14, and upon each of the other two shafts 22 is a similar crank arm 29 connected by a link 30. with a pivot 31 on the outer rotor disk 15. It will be seen that by the turning of the planet gears on their shafts, as they revolve around the stationary sun gear, the two abutment carrying rotor disks may be revolved in the same direction as the rotor disk 11, and at a varying speed, compared with rotor 11, starting from a state of rest and accelerating, and then gradually diminishing to a state of rest, The ratio of the gears 23 and 24 is two to one so that the planet gears make two revolutions on their axes to one orbital revolution. \Vhen each abutment rotor disk comes to a state of rest, the gas charge is exploded so that at such time, the abutment forming piston is stationary, and at that time the crank and link of such rotor are on dead centers, so as to form a solid resistance at the instant of explosion, and the space 32 in the cylinder between such stationary pis ton and the impelling piston of the rotor disk 11, I make serve as the combustion chamber, and provide thereat the ignition means,vwhich preferably is a series of spark plugs 33, entering said space or chamber 32 at points progressively further along circumferenti'ally, so as to enable the ignition to be timed by closin the circuit through any desired one of t e spark plugs. Although at the instant of ignition of the charge the abutment forming piston is stationary, yet assoon as the impelling piston receiving the impact of the explosion, moves orward and the toggle effect of the dea centers is broken, some of the energy imparted to the abutment piston is transmitted through its link 27 crank 26, and gear 23, to the rotor disk 11, and helps to move the latter forward.

At the time one abutment piston of one rotor is situated so that it forms the rear wall of the combustion chamber, there is between the next following impelling piston of the rotor 11, and the next abutment forming piston following the same, a charge of gas, which was sucked into the space be tween said pistons from the gas intake 34 as soon as the said impelling piston-uncovered the port from said intake, and as said abutment forming piston behind the first charge of gas now moves progressively faster than the impelling piston, until they reach opposite sides of the explosion chamber 32, the desired compression of the gas previous to ignition is secured.

It will be understood that the two abutment forming pistons of the respective rotors lei and 15, co-act with two of the four impelling pistons of the rotor 11. The exhaust is effected through a port 34 in the peripheral wall of the casing 10, which, however, is not reached and uncovered by an impelling piston, until just after a fresh gas charge is ignited to act on the next succeeding impelling piston, so that at no time is there an absence of impelling pressure on the rotor 11, and, hence, the engine runs continnously and smoothly.

Air in the cylinder is compressed by the approach of an impelling piston towards its immediately forward abutment piston, and I utilize such compressed air for cooling the engine, for starting theengine, for braking, or any other desired purpose. It may be conveyed from the cylinder by a radial passage 35 in the rotor disk 11, for each impelling piston that leads to a chamber 36 in.

the shaft thereof, from which it is piped t6 storage tanks or the desired points of arse.

A check valve 37 in the passage 35, allows the effiux of air, but prevents back flow into the cyiinden Air enters the cylinder through a radial passage 37 in each rotor disk 14 and 15 opening in rear of the abutment piston, and leading to some point outside the engine, as

by means of axial chambers 38 in the respective sleeves 20 and 21, and a passage 39 through the casing, a check valve 40 being construction, and packing rings or devices therefor, and that are required elsewhere to make gas tight joints.

As will be evident my engine utilizes to high degree the fuel energy; develops increased power and speed, and is compact, simple, and durable, andinexpensive to construct and keep in order,

Of course, suitable slots 41 are cut in the two disks l4 and 15 to accommodate the shafts 22, and the link pivots 28 of the middle disk it during the relative rotary motion of the disks 11, 1 and 15.

I claim 2-.

1. A rotary engine having a circular series of four rotor impelling pistons, two circular series of rotor, abutment forming pistons, two to a series, and means to impart rotary movement to each of said series of abutment forming pistons relative to the impelling pistons.

2. A rotary engine having a cylinder, two sets of independently rotatable pistons in said cylinder, means to subject said pistons, within the cylinder to pressure acting 'in opposite directions on the pistons, at one point in their rotation, means for causing rotary movement of one set relative to the other, and means to take compressed air from said cylinder in a space between said pistons at another point in their rotation.

in testimony that ii claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

liiIEirlEVEY E, SMITH. 

